Laminated fabric



June 21, 1966 E. N. EPSTEIN LAMINATED FABRIC Filed Aug. 51, 1962 w m MT M Ma m W T T Wu A the same prior to final stitching.

United States Patent 3,257,262 LAA'IED FABRIC Edwin N. Epstein, 33 Esplanade, Mount Vernon, N.Y.

Filed Aug. 31, 1962, Ser. No. 220,654 2 (Zlairns. (61. 16189) This application is a continuation-in-part of application Serial No. 136,867, filed September 8, 1961, now abandoned.

This invention is generally in the field of the fabric art, and more particularly relates to the manufacture of a combination fabric and the resulting product.

A primary object of this invention is to provide an improved method of rapidly and economically producing a combination fabric from sheets of a first fabric, as of wool, and a second fabric as of a relatively smooth lining material, in a minimum number of simple steps, to provide a durable, inexpensive and highly attractive product.

It has long been customary to utilize a relatively smooth lining material, in combination with a woolen fabric. However, it is generally necessary to sew the lining material along suitable seams within the interior of the woolen garment. The commercial use of this process is relatively expensive because of the necessary separate cutting and sewing steps involved and the difiiculties encountered in conjunction therewith.

It is, therefore, a more specific object of the present invention to provide an improved composite textile fabric 3 or cloth which maybe utilized for the efficient and economical production of garments or the like.

Another specific object of this invention is the provision of an exceptionally sturdy and unitary composite textile that will be capable of repeated use and cleanings without separation.

Another specific object and accomplishment of this invention is to eliminate the necessity of stitching the pre-cut layers of the lining and outer materials of garments in order to obtain the proper registration of With these objects in view, the invention consists of the novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will appear in the following specification and recited in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which the same reference numerals indicate the same parts throughout the various figures and in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, with the parts illustrated primarily diagrammatically, of the workings of a machine for producing the combination fabric.

FIG. 2 is a fractional and enlarged view of a segment of the adhesive applicator roller showing the operation of the doctor blade.

FIG. 3 is a fractional and enlarged view of a portion of the fabric combining roller showing the marriage of the first woven fabric with the second knitted lining fabric.

FIG. 4 is a fractional view of the composite fabric which comprises the finished product of this invention with a portion of one of the materials broken away to demonstrate the adhesive therebetween.

The invention here disclosed is a composite fabric formed of a woven outer material as of wool, and a knitted lining material such as of acetate tricote. This combination of materials is of special importance. As is well known, any knitted material will have the charac teristic of being expansible in any direction. Thus, should there be any inadvertent distortion between the outer woven material and the inner knitted lining during or after production of a garment, such as due to uneven shrinkage, etc., it will be the inner lining material that will accordingly contract or expand, and not the ice outer material, thereby preventing wrinkling or other distortion of the finished garment.

Further, as will be pointed out hereinafter, the materials will be combined with discrete spaced spots of adhesive. This will permit limited relative movement between individual areas of the woven outer material and the knitted lining material, thereby allowing the inner knitted lining material to expand or contract as heretofore mentioned to conform to the outer woven material.

In a commercial exploitation of the improved method, the various steps are performed as illustrated in the primarily diagrammatic FIGURE 1 of the drawing.

Referring particularly to that figure, it will be seen that the outer or woven woolen material will be fed from a roller 10. The roller 10 will be pivotally mounted on an axle 11 for free rotation thereof. Thus, the outer material 12 will be continuously unwound as required for this process.

Of course, the axle 11 of the roller 10 may be mounted on a double station unwind. Thus, the roll would first be placed on the outermost unwind point 14. After the roll is about half unwound, it would be transferred to the inner station illustrated in solid in FIG. 1 so that a second roll can be placed thereon for continuous operation.

Any of the ordinary fly-splice devices 13 may be incorporated in this device to splice the first roll of wool to the second but this will not be described further herein as it is well known in the art and forms no part of the instant invention.

The unwinding wool 12 will then be fed over a series of idler rollers 15, 16 and 17 to the adhesive applying station 20.

It has been found that the angle at which the woven Wool 12 is fed to the adhesive station 20 is of some importance .to the process described herein. Thus, if the woven wool 12 is advanced to the adhesive roller 21 along the line shown at 22, it will have a relatively large area of contact with said adhesive applying roller 21. If, however, the wool 12 is advanced along the line shown at 24, to the adhesive applying roller 21, there will be minimum of contact therebetween. Thus, skew controlling means 25 will be provided along the path of the advancing Woven wool 12 prior to the adhesive station 20. The skew controlling means 25 may be comprised of rollers 23 which, as by positioning along a frame 26, will set the angle of advance of the woven woolen material 12 towards the adhesive station 20. i

The adhesive station 20 will consist primarily of a back-up roller 30, an adhesive applicator roller21, an adhesive pan 34, a doctor blade 36, etc.

In FIG. 2 there is illustrated in an enlarged manner, a fraction of the adhesive applicator roller 21. The said roller 21 will generally be formed as a drum of steel and will have a multiplicity of evenly spaced preferably engraved indentations 4Q therewithin.

As will be seen in FIG. 1, the bottom of the adhesive applying drum 21 will .be positioned to dip within the pan 34 filled with a liquid adhesive. As the adhesive apply ing roller 21 rotates each point on the circumference thereof will in turn be submerged within the adhesive 33 and, therefore, each of the multiplicity of indentations 40 will in turn become filled with the liquid adhesive 33. Each of the multiplicity of indentations 40 will be substantially small so as to retain a quantity of the adhesive 33 therewithin.

In one embodiment of the invention, it has been found to be desirable to utilize an acrylic base adhesive of the thermosetting type.

It may be necessary to remove the layer of adhesive which may be retained on the portion of the adhesive applying roller 21 between each of the multiplicity of indentations 40. For this purpose, a laterally extending doc- 3 tor blade 36 will be furnished. The said doctor blade 36 will be rigidly held in position by any fixed holding device 44. The said doctor blade 36 may be somewhat flexible so as to be constantly urged against one line of the periphery of the adhesive applying roller 21. Thus, the said doctor blade 36 will act as a wiper removing any adhesive on the roller 21 except that portion of the adhesive within the multiplicity of indentations 49. As will be seen in FIG. 1, the adhesive applying roller 21 may be driven as by an electric motor M or the like. Disposed in an adjacent parallel position to the roller 21, will be the back-up roller 30. The said back-up roller 30 will function to impinge the advancing wool material 12 tightly against the surface of the adhesive applying roller 21. The back-up roller 30 may be coated with a relatively flexible coating so as to insure good contact between the said advancing woven woolen material 12 and the adhesive applying roller 21.

The operation of the adhesive station will now be apparent:

As the advancing woven woolen material 12 is fed between the adhesive applying roller 21 and the back-up roller 30, it will be urged against and possibly even slightly into the indentations 40 along a portion of the said roller 21. When in that position, it will absorb the adhesive 33 in each of the indentations 40, thereby causing the woven material 12 leaving the adhesive station 20 to be coated on one side with a multiplicity of points of adhesive.

The intensity of the contact between the advancing woolen material 12 and the adhesive applying roller 21 may be adjusted by the skewing means previously mentioned. As mentioned heretofore, the maximum contact will be when the woolen material 12 is advanced along a line such as 22 and a minimum of contact will be obtained when the woolen material is advanced along a line such as 24.

The woolen material 12 with the spots of adhesive now applied to one side thereof, will be advanced to a combining station.

The lining material 52, such as a knit of acetate tricote for example, will be advanced to the Combining station from a roll of material 51. The arrangement of the lining material rolls 51 will be similar to that of the wool material rolls 10 so that a fiy-splice may be made at any time for continuous operation. The lining material 52 will be fed to the side of the woolen material 12 with the adhesive thereon.

As illustrated primarily in FIG. 3, a combining roller 54 will receive the woolen material 12 and the lining material 52 with the adhesive therebetween thereby smoothly'combining the same in a wrinkle-free manner.

It has been found to be desirable to steam cure the combined material 68 in order to insure even combination thereof and improve the retaining characteristics of the adhesive. For thus purpose, there is provided a plurality of high pressure steam cure cans 60, 61, 62 and 63. These cans will each be comprised of a hollow drum with high pressure steam fittings such as 64, 65, 66 and 67 for the admission of high pressure steam therewithin. The combined material passing over the cure cans will be dried and the adhesive will be cured to insure permanency of the combination.

The advancing composite fabric 68 will continue its advance to the rewind station 70 past the compensating station 71. The compensating station will consist of a plurality of spaced and staggered apart rollers. The upper of the rollers 80, 81 and 82 will be fixed in a rotative manner. The lower of the said rollers 83 and 84 will be urged downward by a pair of tensionsprings 85 and 86 against the opposition of the advancing composite fabric 68. When a rewind roll 70 is filled and it is necessary to remove or replace the same, the advance of the composite material 68 to the roll 70 must be stopped, but the remainder of the process herein described must be continued. It will be seen that the mechanism immediately above-described accomplishes this function.

Thus, if the composite material 68 in the area of the rewind drum is fixed in position even temporarily, the advancing composite material 68 will merely allow the lower rolls 83 and 84 to drop with the springs and 86 still maintaining therequired tension in the advancing composite material 68.

Of course, any changes may be made to the structure and process without changing the inventive concept of this device. Thus, in place of the multiplicity of regular indentations 40 in the adhesive applying roller 21, other shapes of openings such as diamonds, ellipses, zig-zag indentations, etc. maybe substituted therefor.

As set forth hereinabove, the composite fabric will have advantages never before available in the prior art. For example, the fabric may be utilized for the formation of lined garments without the necessity of separate cutting and sewing operations.

Additionally, the spaced apart portions of the adhesive will permit a limited relative movement between individual areas of the woven material and the lining material, thereby eliminating small folds, wrinkles, or distortions which might otherwise appear. This effect would not, of course, be realized if the woven material and the lining material .were combined with a unitary sheet or layer of adhesive material.

Other unexpected advantages flow from this unique combination of fabrics, such as resistance to tearing, improved fit, etc.

While there are above disclosed but a limited number of embodiments of the structure and product of the invention herein presented, it is possible to produce still other embodiments without departing from the inventive concept herein disclosed, and it is desired, therefore, that only such limitations be imposed on the appended claims as are stated therein, or required by the priorart.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A multi-layer cloth for use in making an article of wearing apparel composed of contiguous and substantially coextensive outer and inner layers of material, the outer layer consisting of a woven fabric that is relatively inexpansible, the inner layer consisting of a knitted fabric that is expansible in a plurality of directions, said layers being bonded to each other throughout said contiguous layers by an adhesive applied in discrete areas therebetween.

2. A multi-layer cloth according to claim 1 wherein the outer layer comprises at least one material selectedfrorn the group consisting of wool and cotton and the inner layer consists of a synthetic fibrous material.

EARL M. BERGERT, Primary Examiner. R. 1. SMITH, H. F. EPSTEIN, Assistant Examiners. 

1. A MULTI-LAYER CLOTH FOR USE IN MAKING AN ARTICLE OF WEARING APPAREL COMPOSED OF CONTIGUOUS AND SUBSTANTIALLY COEXTENSIVE OUTER AND INNER LAYERS OF MATERIAL, THE OUTER LAYER CONSISTING OF A WOVEN FABRIC THAT IS RELATIVELY INEXPANSIBLE, THE INNER LAYER CONSISTING OF A KNITTED FABRIC THAT IS EXPANSIBLE IN A PLURALITY OF DIRECTIONS, SAID LAYERS BEING BONDED TO EACH OTHER THROUGHOUT SAID CONTIGUOUS LAYERS BY AN ADHESIVE APPLIED IN DISCRETE AREAS THEREBETWEEN. 